"Fix anything yet, Valdez?"
"You've been gone for five minutes, Reyna." She shrugged and walked over to one of the swings in the engine room.
"Hey, for all I knew, you'd fixed the whole ship while I was gone."
"Well, I didn't. I haven't fixed anything and it's been two weeks!"
"Yeah, aren't you supposed to be some sort of engineering genius? This shouldn't be to hard, right?"
"It's not very easy having you sitting here pressuring me every second of the day!"
"I'm not pressuring you. It's called encouragement. And supervision. I know what you need."
"What's that?"
"A break."
"I don't have time!"
"That wasn't a suggestion, Leo. You have to take a break. Being the daughter of Bellona, I know how to run an army. And if an army doesn't have time to rest, it will get defeated. That's why you need a break. Your brain is the army, and if you don't rest, it will be defeated."
Leo stopped working on the engine and turned to face Reyna. After a moment, he burst out laughing. A look of utter confusion was upon Reyna's face. Leo hesitated.
"Your kidding, right?" he asked.
"No."
"That wasn't a joke?"
"No! It was a metaphor."
"Okay, what will my brain be defeated by?"
"Insomnia?" Reyna suggested. That just made Leo laugh more.
"Alright, your highness." Leo said getting up, "Let's take a break."
Reyna and Leo walked through the streets of New Rome. Leo acted like his usually goofy self and Reyna tried not to smile at his jokes, but it was very hard. She took him up to the Garden of Bacchus. Leo had to restrain himself from laughing at the statue of Mr. D. The view was beautiful though. The terrace overlooked the whole valley.
"I have to give it to you, your highness. New Rome really is beautiful."
Reyna smiled. "It is, isn't it?" She sat on a bench and looked out at the valley. Leo looked around at everything but the statue; well he tried not to look at it.
Suddenly their peace was interrupted by the sound of footsteps and some very girly giggling. Jason and Piper walked onto the terrace and stopped once they saw Leo and Reyna.
"Oh," muttered Jason, "I thought you guys were working in the engine room."
"We are." Reyna said, turning around to face them. She glared at them with ice-cold daggers in her eyes. It was even worse than when Annabeth gave someone the death glare.
"What?" asked Piper.
"Oh yeah," Reyna continued in a bitter voice, "we're working on the ship right now. We're kind of busy so if you don't mind…" Her voice trailed off. And then a confused Jason and Piper started walking back down the hill.
"What was that?" Leo laughed.
"I'd rather not spend my time with them." And for just a moment, Reyna's wall fell, and Leo saw the completely heart broken teenager she really was.
He slowly walked over to where she was sitting. Leo sat down next to Reyna. She gently placed her head on his shoulder.
"It just feels like no one ever notices me." She confessed, "He never did." She let out a bitter laugh. "He still doesn't."
"That's the problem Reyna," Leo began, " You're too busy focusing on the idiots who don't notice you. That's why you never see the people who do notice you."
Reyna lifted her head and looked at Leo. Their faces were extremely close. So close, they could feel each other's breath. They stayed like that for at least a minute until Reyna broke the silence.
"We should get back to the ship."
"Yeah." Leo stood up and reached for Reyna's hand. She gladly accepted and they started to make their way back to the ship.
On the way back Leo joked around, just like before. Only this time, Reyna allowed herself to smile, and even laugh.
Author's Note: Okay so, what do ya think? I really like this piece. I don't usually go for AU's, but I liked this one. I might continue, but I might just leave it as a one-shot. What do you guys think? Should I go on, or leave it as is? I think it'll work either way. Thanks for reading and please review! :)